1 heavy rain, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 9:08 PM CST, 2 hours 52 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1008 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2003 UPDATED ZONES FOR MINOR CHANGES TONIGHT. KEPT ISOLATED POPS ALL ZONES, REMOVED ALL EVENING WORDING, AND PUT PATCHY FOG IN ALL AREAS. NO OTHER CHANGES NEEDED AT THE MOMENT. .BHM...NONE.
ALZ011>015-017>050-312015- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 114 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE (THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT)... SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS AREAS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 20 THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. A FEW OF THE STORMS WILL BE STRONG...PRODUCING WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY)... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
The Birmingham International Airport measured 9.48 inches of rain in August. This was the 4th highest total for August since records began in 1900.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, August 2003
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5368522.